3 More Broncos Starters Land on Reserve/COVID List Ahead of Week 17

The COVID hits keep coming for the Denver Broncos. On Friday, the Broncos announced that wide receiver Jerry Jeudy and outside linebacker Bradley Chubb will be joining nearly a half-dozen other key players on the reserve/COVID list.

We also learned that Broncos’ rookie rush linebacker Jonathon Cooper would be heading to the COVID list, putting the team in a rather perilous situation defending the edge in Week 17. Adding insult to injury, 9NEWS' Mike Klis reported that starting inside linebacker Baron Browning and depth defensive tackle McTelvin Agim are headed to the reserve list ahead of the team's road bout vs. the Los Angeles Chargers, bringing the total to 13 players over the last three days.

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While reserve pass rusher Andre Mintze may be activated off of the COVID list by kickoff, joining Malik Reed as an edge option for the Broncos, Denver may have a hard time getting after Justin Herbert in the passing game this week. For a unit that has struggled rushing the passer this season overall, this might be very bad news for Denver’s prospects in Los Angeles.

The edge rusher position will likely have a hard time getting home this week against the Chargers, but perhaps hit even worse than the outside linebackers is that of the wide receivers. After Tim Patrick and Jeudy tested positive this week, head coach Vic Fangio announced during Friday’s press conference that fellow starter Courtland Sutton may be added to the COVID list as well.

That would leave Denver naught but Kendall Hinton, Seth Williams, and Diontae Spencer as the only available receivers currently on the roster. The Broncos’ season (and perhaps Fangio’s tenure in Denver) was already all but over after losing three of their last four games to drop below .500.

Despite all these obstacles, Fangio remains high on his team's Week 17 prospects.

“I’m very confident and bullish on the guys that are going to be playing for us," Fangio said on Friday. "We’ve got some great opportunities for some guys that have been showing good on the practice field—like Seth Williams obviously will play in there tomorrow. Just like [ILB] Jonas Griffith was playing good on the practice field and when he got his opportunity he didn’t disappoint. He played well and took advantage of it. There’s going to be some more of those [opportunities] available on Sunday for guys that are going to get their chances to play and I’m confident in them.”

With the team unsure whether it will even have 45 players available on Sunday, the Broncos may be walking into a very bad situation as the team fights to finish with a winning record for the first time since 2016. While it is unfortunate the Broncos will be without a multitude of players on Sunday, hopefully, all those infected will have short infections with limited to no symptoms.

For now, Fangio can't be sure the Broncos will have 45 healthy, active players available for Sunday's tilt in L.A. Considering that the Chargers are still playoff-viable, it'll be interesting to see whether the NFL opts to reschedule this game if positive tests continue to roll in for Denver.

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